BROWNIE'S BLOG - UNFORTUNATE DEPARTURE DELAY IN BRISBANE SET THE TONE FOR THE REST OF THE TRIP

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Damian Browne, reigning Queensland's Jockey Of The Year, is rated right up there with the best jockeys in Australia and, as such, his highly informed views make essential reading for anyone in the racing industry. Damian’s column, ‘Brownies Blog’ appears exclusively on HRO

The Karaka Million result didn’t go my way at Ellerslie on Sunday and, all in all, it wasn’t the best trip I’ve had to New Zealand.

You could say the warning signs were there early. My plane arrived in Auckland two hours late and I got to the track with five minutes to spare ... and that was only because I had a good taxi driver.

The delay started in Brisbane. I was on Emirates and the flight was late coming in from Dubai.

Tony Gollan was also leaving Brisbane at the same time as me. He was on Qantas though. They left on time. My flight left two hours later.

But I got there.

I rang Liam Birchley from the airport in Brisbane and I said, ‘you wouldn’t believe it, but I’m still standing in the airport in Brisbane.’ That was about half past twelve New Zealand time. He said, ‘You’re kidding me!’

I said I’d ring him when I landed. I did and I said, ‘I think I’m going to make it.’ He got back to me and said, ‘Sweet.’

So, at least everybody knew what was happening and thankfully it didn’t get to the stage where the stewards had to start looking at making an alternative riding engagement.

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As far as O’Reilly Cyrus’s performance in the Karaka Million was concerned I think the track was probably a little bit hard for her.

She was a little bit disappointing on paper and didn’t finish off as well as she can but the firmer track may have played a part in that.

She looked a million dollars in the mounting yard but, as I said beforehand the travel factor could also have had an influence.

That was always one of the concerns with her, being a young filly. Colts and geldings quite often take those things a lot easier that filly’s do.

I couldn’t have been happier where I was in the run. She did over-race a little bit, but not badly. When I came out into clear running just after straightening I thought she was going to be competitive as far as the finish was concerned, but she just didn’t have that turn of foot we were expecting.

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The way in which the Karaka Million meeting was conducted was interesting.

In terms of a sporting reference I guess it is similar to the twenty-twenty concept in cricket.

They have six races ... bang, bang, bang. They have fast, loud entertainment. It is all about the party and the whole thing is pretty well done and dusted in three hours.

It attracts a good crowd. There is a great atmosphere. Straight after the last race they pull down all of the rails in the mounting yard and people move in to have a big party with bands and fireworks and that sort of thing.

They really turn it into a party atmosphere and promote it as such.

You wouldn’t want it every week and it wouldn’t have the same impact if it happened every week but as a concept, used sparingly, it is very successful.

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I didn’t really join in the after party.

Obviously riding light ... for me that’s 54.5kg ... it took it out of me a bit.

I was quite dehydrated so it took me about an hour and a half to get rehydrated

I did have a couple of beers after that but by then it was eleven o’clock and I was knackered and I had an early plane to catch home the next morning.

It was great to catch up with a few people but I wasn’t there long enough to enjoy it too much.

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Then I was back riding at the Australia Day meeting at the Sunshine Coast.

As we all know now the rain came down and put an end to the meeting after only three races so the last couple of meetings haven’t been very productive for me ... but at least now I have a good chance to freshen up and get ready for Saturday.

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